Africa has seen an expansion of instant payments systems over the past year with new launches in South Africa, Ethiopia, Morocco over the last twelve months, a new report said.

The addition of the three countries brings the total number of live domestic and regional instant payment systems on the continent to 32, the report by a think tank focused on promoting digital financial services for the financially excluded, said.    

AfricaNenda said in its annual State of Inclusive Instant Payment Systems (SIIPS) in Africa report that the volume of payments and the total value of payments processed has grown rapidly since 2018, by 47% and 39%, respectively.     

Instant payments systems in Africa facilitated nearly 32 billion transactions valued at $1.2 trillion in 2022, the report published in conjunction with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the World Bank, said.    

"The remarkable growth of instant payment systems in Africa since last year is a testament to our collective commitment to driving positive change in the continent," Robert Ochola, CEO, AfricaNenda, said.   

More than 400 million African adults are however still financially excluded from instant payments systems, the report said.    

In addition, 27 countries have yet to establish a domestic instant payment system, while t 17 countries have plans to do so at some point, it said. There are three regional payment systems also in preparation throughout the continent.

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com )